Michelle Monaghan has a job most women would kill for. In her impressive career, the 32-year-old actress has, among other things, worked with a string of leading men including: Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible 3; Robert Downey Jr. in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang; Brad Pitt in Mr. & Mrs. Smith; Ben Stiller in The Heartbreak Kid; Casey Affleck in Gone, Baby, Gone and Matt Damon in The Bourne Supremacy. Monaghan, who grew up in Winthrop, Iowa, is now starring opposite Patrick Dempsey - better known as ‘McDreamy’ in the hit TV drama Grey’s Anatomy - in the Sony Pictures romantic comedy Made of Honour. In the film she and Dempsey play Hannah and Tom, best friends for ten years. When Hannah goes to Scotland for a job, Tom realizes she may be more than a friend and plans to propose. But when she returns with a fiancé and asks Tom to be her ‘maid of honor’ instead, he seizes the opportunity to woo her back as a wedding insider. The down-to-earth former model is married in real-life to Australia graphic artist Peter White and lives in New York.
How was the shoot on this film?
We started off shooting in Los Angeles and then in New York, which is one of my favorite places but I’ve never had the opportunity to shoot in my hometown before. Then we got to shoot in London and Scotland.
The Isle of Skye in Scotland was one of the most magical places I’ve ever been. I love my work and one of my favorite things to do is travel so to combine the two was an absolute no-brainer.
What do you think about men and women really being just friends?
It’s funny because my best friend is a guy and we’ve been best friends for 15 years and two years ago he was my ‘maid’ of honor but we called him my ‘man of honor’! So it was really interesting when Sony came to me with this script and explained they were doing something modern that had never been done before and I was like, ‘actually I did it two years ago!’
What is the story with your best friend?
His name is Mark and we met through friends over a night of drinking and we slowly became the best of friends and we’ve been part of each other’s lives for the last 15 years.
I remember introducing him to my boyfriend at the time who is now my husband and I was worried because I was like, ‘I love Mark dearly and I love Peter dearly’ so it was important to me that they got along and when they did I was so happy, like I could have them both!
So you can relate to the themes of this film?
Yes, I loved this woman in the movie because it is a modern take on a traditional wedding and I find a lot of women have lots of significant male friends and I like that idea of a man standing up for you at the altar.
So you and Hannah had a lot in common?
I could relate to planning a wedding because I’d been through my own two year ago. We got married in Port Douglas two years ago so that was very exciting. I know all about picking out the dress and all that fun stuff.
It took place in New York and what girl doesn’t want to plan their wedding again. For me when I got married I had a dress I bought at a flea market that I had dyed from blue to white and never did the whole bridal shopping so it was fun for me trying on racks of wedding dresses and I felt like I was getting married all over again!
How does this film fit in with where your career is going?
I would say Mission: Impossible 3 was the movie that really was the blockbuster that everybody saw and helped me break through. And I had just completed Gone Baby Gone and Heartbreak Kid and I hadn’t done a full-blown romantic comedy and really liked this one for obvious reasons. I was also a big fan of Patrick Dempsey of course - but I can’t really tell him that!
So you are a fan of Grey’s Anatomy?
I am a huge fan of Grey’s Anatomy and love Patrick but luckily I never slipped up and called him McDreamy! When we first met, obviously the chemistry in a movie like this is the glue that holds the movie together, so we hung out and really had a fun time and I thought it was believable we could have been friends for ten years.
So how was working with Patrick Dempsey?
I liked Can’t Buy Me Love and some of his older films but what struck me about Patrick was that I wasn’t surprised at his dramatic acting, because he carries a lot of weight in Grey’s Anatomy, but I was also impressed with him doing physical comedy.
Throughout the course of working with him I found out he went to mime school and he can juggle and it all started to make sense, the way he could use his body for comedy. He is a great package because he can be funny and charming but also very serious at the same time.
How challenging was the physical comedy for you?
There is definitely some stuff in there I got to do that was very challenging because you can’t really prepare to be funny. Doing a drama you can prepare for months what you want to achieve and create in the course of a scene, but with this film it’s all about having chemistry and rapport and being open to improvising and being physical and making an ass out of yourself and doing whatever you need to do to achieve it.
How did your own TV background help your career?
Being on Boston Public was a great training ground for me. David Kelley had written this arc for me and it was one of my first acting jobs and I didn’t realize I had a different director each week, so I felt like I went to acting school on that show and when it was over I felt like I learned so much and knew I wanted to aim high and I thought I should go after movies.
Have you always aimed high?
I guess I’d say I’m pretty ambitious but I owe that to my folks who never doubted me or my brothers once and they always believed in me and have been an amazing inspiration to me. That’s not to say I wasn’t fearful of it or scared but growing up in Iowa I thought if I could put myself through school, I could go to school in Chicago and I did.
Then I thought, ‘if I can make it in New York I can give it a go’ and so I’ve always liked a good challenge, to be honest.
I’d rather fail than not have tried at all. I can’t live with that feeling of not having given it a good shot.
Why did you quit journalism school in Chicago before you graduated?
I realized I was going to have to move back to Iowa and start out in small markets but I liked the city and I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I wanted to live in New York.
It floors me now looking back, a straight A student who left one semester short of graduating! I was tens of thousands of dollars in debt and my folks said, ‘you’ve always had a good head on your shoulders so go for it’ and they believed in me so I believed in myself.
So how did you transition from modeling to acting?
It was really by luck because I’d been modeling and started doing commercials and there was some TV show they were casting for a recurring character and they couldn’t find the actress so they started going to modeling agencies as a last resort and so I auditioned for fun and three hours later I was going to Boston to shoot the show.
Then I did the movie Unfaithful and that was the turning point for me, being in a movie with Richard Gere and Diane Lane, that’s when I really knew I wanted to do this for a career and not just to pay off my debts.
What do you think of the list of amazing men you’ve worked with?
They’re amazing, aren’t they? Sometimes I’ll even forget myself and I’ll be watching the TV and see Brad Pitt and think, ‘I wonder what he’s like’ and then I’m like, ‘Oh my goodness, I worked with him, I know what he’s like!’ Somehow I feel like I’m living someone else’s life, that’s how separate I feel my life is, that I forget I’ve worked with all these guys!
How do Tom Cruise and Patrick Dempsey compare?
Patrick Dempsey is a little taller but they’re both incredibly charming! It was an intense time making MI: 3 and my husband and I were newly married and there was a lot going on for Tom also, expecting a baby with Katie. Tom really took me under his wing and it was a remarkable time in my life to work on that film.
How did you end up marrying an Australian?
I met him in a bar in New York of course! He was with a bunch of Aussie friends and within five minutes he had me laughing and I knew immediately he was the one. It was seven years ago and we met each other when I was doing deodorant commercials so it had nothing to do with what I did for a living. We’re lucky we met when we did because we’ve been able to experience each other’s success together and we’ve both come a long way.
Made of Honour is in UK Cinemas from Friday 2nd May.
Michelle Monaghan has a job most women would kill for. In her impressive career, the 32-year-old actress has, among other things, worked with a string of leading men including: Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible 3; Robert Downey Jr. in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang; Brad Pitt in Mr. & Mrs. Smith; Ben Stiller in The Heartbreak Kid; Casey Affleck in Gone, Baby, Gone and Matt Damon in The Bourne Supremacy. Monaghan, who grew up in Winthrop, Iowa, is now starring opposite Patrick Dempsey - better known as ‘McDreamy’ in the hit TV drama Grey’s Anatomy - in the Sony Pictures romantic comedy Made of Honour. In the film she and Dempsey play Hannah and Tom, best friends for ten years. When Hannah goes to Scotland for a job, Tom realizes she may be more than a friend and plans to propose. But when she returns with a fiancé and asks Tom to be her ‘maid of honor’ instead, he seizes the opportunity to woo her back as a wedding insider. The down-to-earth former model is married in real-life to Australia graphic artist Peter White and lives in New York.How was the shoot on this film?
We started off shooting in Los Angeles and then in New York, which is one of my favorite places but I’ve never had the opportunity to shoot in my hometown before. Then we got to shoot in London and Scotland.
The Isle of Skye in Scotland was one of the most magical places I’ve ever been. I love my work and one of my favorite things to do is travel so to combine the two was an absolute no-brainer.
What do you think about men and women really being just friends?
It’s funny because my best friend is a guy and we’ve been best friends for 15 years and two years ago he was my ‘maid’ of honor but we called him my ‘man of honor’! So it was really interesting when Sony came to me with this script and explained they were doing something modern that had never been done before and I was like, ‘actually I did it two years ago!’
What is the story with your best friend?
His name is Mark and we met through friends over a night of drinking and we slowly became the best of friends and we’ve been part of each other’s lives for the last 15 years.
I remember introducing him to my boyfriend at the time who is now my husband and I was worried because I was like, ‘I love Mark dearly and I love Peter dearly’ so it was important to me that they got along and when they did I was so happy, like I could have them both!
So you can relate to the themes of this film?
Yes, I loved this woman in the movie because it is a modern take on a traditional wedding and I find a lot of women have lots of significant male friends and I like that idea of a man standing up for you at the altar.
So you and Hannah had a lot in common?
I could relate to planning a wedding because I’d been through my own two year ago. We got married in Port Douglas two years ago so that was very exciting. I know all about picking out the dress and all that fun stuff.
It took place in New York and what girl doesn’t want to plan their wedding again. For me when I got married I had a dress I bought at a flea market that I had dyed from blue to white and never did the whole bridal shopping so it was fun for me trying on racks of wedding dresses and I felt like I was getting married all over again!
How does this film fit in with where your career is going?
I would say Mission: Impossible 3 was the movie that really was the blockbuster that everybody saw and helped me break through. And I had just completed Gone Baby Gone and Heartbreak Kid and I hadn’t done a full-blown romantic comedy and really liked this one for obvious reasons. I was also a big fan of Patrick Dempsey of course - but I can’t really tell him that!
So you are a fan of Grey’s Anatomy?
I am a huge fan of Grey’s Anatomy and love Patrick but luckily I never slipped up and called him McDreamy! When we first met, obviously the chemistry in a movie like this is the glue that holds the movie together, so we hung out and really had a fun time and I thought it was believable we could have been friends for ten years.